This Is Love

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to marry a man with a good job, something that would benefit people. Maybe a doctor or lawyer. Someone important, but no one in politics. Someone who would love his job and his family.

When I was eight, my father had a friend. He was younger than my dad; he had just qualified as a surgeon. I remember that he had light brown hair, a glowing smile, and was always cleaning his glasses on his shirt. As you might be able to tell, I was smitten with him. I thought, 'I want to marry someone just like that one day!'

Then I got my letter. I was a witch! I have never been so excited and scared at the same time in my whole life! I immediately had my parents take me to Diagon Alley. My father had to ask Tom the barman for help, but we finally got in after numerous attempts! I told them that I wanted to get my books right away so that I could start to study.

The day came to go to platform 9 and 3/4. I already knew how to get on to the platform where the Hogwarts Express was waiting; it was in a book I had read. So, I left my parents on the Muggle side of the platform and walked right through the brick wall. I was scared to my wits being alone in such a strange place, and I was shaking in my shoes!

I boarded the red train straight away, and found a compartment that was empty. I had just taken out Hogwarts, A History when a slightly chubby, brown haired boy asked if he could join me. I said I didn't mind, and he introduced himself as Neville Longbottom. I told him my name and he was quiet for the rest of the trip.

There were whispers that the legendary Harry Potter was on the train with us! Of course, I had to see if the rumors were true. And indeed they were. I fixed Harry Potter's glasses. I had to sit next to a red haired boy, who was stuffing his face with food, to do it. Little did I know that that one repairing spell would start a whole friendship.

During the Halloween feast, Harry and his red haired friend, Ron, saved me from a mountain troll that had got into the castle. It didn't matter that the reason I was crying in the bathroom was because Ron was mean to me. It only mattered that we were now friends.

At the end of the year, Ron and I helped Harry rescue the Philosopher's Stone from the Dark Lord. That was a solid event that held our friendship together.

Second year was rather exciting. Harry and Ron came to school late and in a flying car. That annoyed my terribly. (Or maybe I was just worried?) Then students started being petrified by something. I was one of them, so I spent a good part of my second year lying in the Hospital Wing, petrified. At the end of the year, I was cured and learned that Harry had saved Ginny Weasley and the school from Voldemort.

Third year was the first year we were allowed to Hogsmeade village. It's the only completely wizarding village in all of Britain! That was also the year I got Crookshanks, my cat. Ron hated him and even accused Crookshanks of eating his rat, Scabbers! Harry met one of his parents' best friends, Remus Lupin. He's a werewolf, which we learned later on. We also learned that Sirius Black hadn't helped Voldemort to murder Harry's parents and was actually Harry's godfather. And it turned out that Ron's rat, Scabbers, was really Peter Pettigrew, the man who really had helped Voldemort kill Harry's parents.

Fourth year was extremely exciting. Harry, Ron and I went to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys and had an encounter with some Death Eaters. When we got to school, Dumbledore told us that the Triwizard Tournament was being held at Hogwarts and students from two other wizarding schools were coming to compete! Cedric and Harry both got chosen as Hogwarts champions and everyone said that Harry had cheated. Even Ron didn't believe him, and the two didn't talk until after the first task. Then the Yule Ball came, around Christmas. I was ecstatic when Viktor Krum, the famous Quidditch player from Bulgaria, asked me to go with him. I said yes of course, and that was the year I learned that I liked Ron as more than just a friend. The second task came and went and then the third task came. It was a hedge maze. Harry won but Cedric died in the process. Lord Voldemort had been reborn in front of Harry's eyes, but no one in the Ministry wanted to believe him.

Fifth year was hardest for Harry. Quidditch was cancelled at Hogwarts because of our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Her name was Dolores Umbridge. She cancelled just about everything fun and sent Dumbledore away from Hogwarts! She was completely horrible and everyone hated her. The Weasley twins, Fred and George, even quit school! Then came the fight in the Department of Mysteries. Me, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna Lovegood all flew there on Thestrals and fought with the Death Eaters. I almost died and Ron went insane for a while. The thing that hurt Harry the most was when Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius, her own cousin. All of us knew that Harry would never be the same after that.

Sixth year was actually quite uneventful, in the sense that not many dangerous things happened to Harry. Katie Bell, a girl on the Quidditch team, got sent to St. Mungo's because of a cursed necklace, and poison even made its way into the school. Dumbledore was back but he didn't give the students any reassurance that things would be all right. Harry was using a potions book that used to belong to someone called the Half-Blood Prince, and he had the highest grades in Potions thanks to it, even over me! Harry, Ron and I learned that Malfoy was now working for Voldemort and Hogwarts wasn't safe. Harry got together with Ginny and they made a cute couple, while Ron made me jealous by snogging Lavender Brown's face off all the time. Harry learned that Voldemort had made six Horcruxes and he and Dumbledore went to find one. Dumbledore almost died in the process and the 'Horcrux' they were found turned out to be a fake. They came back to Hogwarts, and Snape killed Dumbledore using one of the Unforgivable Curses.

Seventh year wasn't like any of the other years. Almost all the students were sent home except the ones who wanted to stay and fight. Hogwarts didn't get any new students that year. Only the sixth and seventh year students from Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stayed. Harry helped to train us all in the DA and we were ready to fight when Voldemort came. The night before the fight, I told Ron how I felt about him just in case something happened to either of us the next day. He told me that he was sorry that he hurt me last year and that he really liked me too. When Voldemort came, he brought vampires, werewolves, Dementors and his Death Eaters with him. Many of the students died, but even more survived. Harry killed Voldemort, and as soon as that happened, the Death Eaters and the rest of his followers ran.

And now I stand here at the alter of a gorgeous white church. The maid of honor is Ginny and the best man is Harry. My hands rest in the ones of the man I'm about to marry. Who could have guessed that I would fall in love with the boy who ate so disgustingly, or who was afraid of spiders, or who still had a tiny action figure of Viktor Krum? He wasn't a doctor or a lawyer, but Ron was everything I wasn't, and that made us whole.